Beautiful! In Dr. Edward’s class (engineering ethics and public) we watched a video in which a dog (I think ) was helping an injured dog in a highway, it was incredible and of course sad. We also watched videos of ignorance of humans situations that others are in need for help. Indeed there is a lesson…

Good evening Shaun,

Hahahaha….the position of “other” was brought up to me over the summer while I was home in Oregon doing volunteer work. Literally, I was volunteering at an animal shelter, driving meals on wheels, and helping the homeless (mostly made up of vets and LGBT youth). My oldest brother couldn’t comprehend how I was able to do such diverse work and when I’d talk about helping vets and LGBT youth he was aghast, as in, how could those two groups even get along. Let’s just say he’s super pro Trump. At one point he asked me if I had been converted to a communist or Muslim, yeah no joke. That was a fun dinner! LOL! Anyway, you are right we should prize and appeal to solutions that creative and collaborative. We’d get a lot more done!

Thanks!

Cheers, Lehi

Very good points! I also think that is crucial to explore the roots of these assumptions and judgments. I think to some extents Vendantamis tries to address it as it illustrates the role of family, educational system, and in particular media. And of course this is not whole picture. The systemic root of maintaining status quo which is beyond a particular institution may need further attention. I believe the panel members on podcast took this into account in exploring the issue of race and racism.

Good evening Amy,

Absolutely! The listening piece is critical as we’ve learned this is a very difficult task to master. I love the description of moving from convincing to collaborating.

Thanks!

Cheers, Lehi

Good lord please don’t mention 2008 again. LOL….I know not much but I lost $8K in the market. I’ve never put a dime back in after that. You realize how much of the world as we see it is built upon smoke and mirrors. Stability is a great way to put the topic into context.

Thanks!

Cheers, Lehi

Good evening Saloumeh,

I am still putting my Ph.D. committee together but I’ve already decided the alternate or “other” member will not be from VT. Although not exactly the same thought process, that’s how much diversity needs to happen for me to trust their opinion. It seems a lot of professors here are like the Stepford Wives. LOL!

Thanks!

Cheers, Lehi

Yeah, now that you mention it I guess the “two heads” saying would be much more amplified if they were from diverse backgrounds! LOL!

Thanks!

Cheers, Lehi

Great post Lehi. I always wonder how many people cannot be inconvenienced to even consider communicating to audiences beyond their immediate circles. This problem is likely increasing with the growing plurality and focus of divisions that one may use to separate themselves and the like-minded from others. These are why labels such as “liberal” and “conservative” are so appealing: we no longer have to explain or defend ourselves when we can position outsiders as an “other” which either cannot understand or “suffer from some defect” which makes them consistently wrong or inferior. As troubling as this language sounds, these practices make values such as diversity, community, and collaboration more difficult. Solving problems collectively has been proven to be a massive success in a majority of situations but the problem is, as you mentioned, that it’s uncomfortable. It requires patience, effort, sensitivity, and even the outlandish possibility that one may be vulnerable or wrong. I agree with you that we should prize and appeal to these solutions which are more creative and collaborative; hopefully we can get there sooner rather than later despite this growing culture of ideological isolation.

Good evening Erin,

You are absolutely correct! Seriously, how boring would meetings be if we all thought the same way?

Thanks!

Cheers, Lehi

Great comments Matt. I share some of your angst about our generation’s upbringing in this regard: we were taught our whole lives to be “colorblind” (whatever that really means) and to not discuss race, gender, sexuality, and class because they were “not nice to talk about”. It is amazing to me that we are so surprised when many individuals and collectives today are fighting for the ability to be heard discursively and politically. Being able to decide what should and should not be discussed is a massive red flag regarding privilege that has rarely been acknowledged until recently. Your sister’s experience is indicative of some of the biases latent in what many consider to be “harmless” assumptions of language and stereotypes. These problems are deep and many disturbing, with your family’s experience appearing to be one of those “ah-ha” moments where we are forced to think about them.